


Bear Traps

by Hyenawrites



Series: Harry Finding Love, Being Nonbinary, and the Emotional Depth All His Friends and Family Deserved [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hogwarts Fifth Year, I didn;t mean for this to get angsty I swear, I'm Bad At Tagging, accidental angst, i guess, that should be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21882664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyenawrites/pseuds/Hyenawrites
Summary: Takes place after "Bony Rhestrals and Starry Skies"Harry never expected a patronus of all things to end up exposing him and Luna but here they are, nothing but awkward conversations ready to ensue.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter
Series: Harry Finding Love, Being Nonbinary, and the Emotional Depth All His Friends and Family Deserved [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542124
Comments: 7
Kudos: 83





	1. Patronuses Don't Lie

Harry clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Alright guys, today we’re going to be doing some revision. If there’s a spell you’re still having trouble with find a partner and start practicing. Ron, Hermione, and I will be walking around to help you out if you need it.”

With this everyone dispersed into all their different groups, practicing a myriad of spells that they’d learned over the past month.

Everything was going great, absolutely fantastic, _until someone needed help with a Merlin damned patronus_ . Of course Harry couldn’t _actually_ blame Hannah Abbot, he doesn’t think anything could truly hide his love of Luna. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t hoping for them to at least have more time together before they got found out.

It was just after he’d finished helping a fourth year hufflepuff with a shielding charm that it happened.

“Harry!” Hannah called, “Do you think you could help me with my patronus charm?”

The teen happily nodded as he walked over to her. “What’s the problem?”

She let out a frustrated sigh. “I just can’t get it. I think of my happiest memory but all I can manage is a mist.”

The indian teen thought for a few seconds before responding. “Well,” he tried. “Have you considered that the happy memory you’re using may be too superficial?”

Hannah gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Like, how genuine is the memory? Is it just a memory of say for example you getting an A on a test you thought you’d fail?” He explained. “Or is it something that reminds you of a sort of bone deep happiness?”

He got a skeptical look at this, “Oh yeah, what's your ‘bone deep’ memory?”

All he could do was smile a bit bitterly, “Well mine is sort of made up. It’s more like a memory I wish I had of spending the holidays with my parents.”

Her eyes widened at this a bit, “So,” she asked hesitantly. “It, it doesn’t have to be a _real_ memory?”

“Nope.” He said confidently. “Now are you ready to try?”

“Only if you do it first, just so I can feel a bit better.”

Harry laughed a bit. “Of course.” The teen closed his eyes as he prepared to do the spell, summoning his happiest ‘memories’, he was left quite surprised though when the thing that came up as he recited the spell was his and Luna’s talk from a few nights ago. The spell worked all the same it felt like so he had no worries as he turned to look at Hannah. Only to be confused at the shocked expression on her face. He turned to look at his patronus and figured out why.

Standing before him, instead of the familiar stag he’d come to associate with his father, stood a tall and proud _thestral_.

Harry felt his face going up in flames knowing _exactly_ what this meant.

Luna it appeared was no off better. The girl who to others was usually the definition of calm looked shocked as she blushed right to her roots.

Hermione of course was the one to ask the question they all wanted to know. “Harry what in the world happened to your patronus?”

The boy in question wondered if it was too late to play it off cool. The answer was a definite yes considering his already flustered appearance.

He laughed awkwardly, “Haha, umm. _Well._ ” He tried awkwardly. “Your patronus can actually change if the source of your happiness has changed. So if you switch up the memory you use for the charm, it can in turn change your patronus’s shape sometimes.”

“Yeah that’s not explaining why yours is a bloody thestral though mate.” Ron cut in, wanting the other boy to just get to the point already.

Before he could give some weak answer a slightly larger thestral seemed to show up out of nowhere and stand right next to his and began to nuzzle it. He would have found it wonderfully cute if they weren’t being faced with the whole ordeal of being outed to the entire DA. A few moments later Luna, much more composed, was standing next to him, her usual serene smile on her face.

“I think one of those muggle sayings would apply to this situation Harry.” She said playfully as she looked at the faces of all the other DA members. “I believe the phrase is ‘the cat is out of the bag’.”

Harry laughed softly, "It would appear so." He then looked around at the shocked faces if all his fellow schoolmates and sighed. He knew they wouldn't be getting anything else done that day. "Alright from the looks of it we're ending today's session early. Think of it as a nice day off, you'll receive." At these words they all continued to look at him expectantly, probably hoping to learn more about him and Luna. He of course was having none of this. "Shoo shoo," he said as he started ushering all of them out of the room. There were of course some grumbles of protest but they all made their way out agreeably. 

Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and the twins were the only ones left to stay in the room with Luna and Harry. Varying looks of shock on all of their faces.

As usual Hermione was the first to speak. “Wh-Why didn’t you tell us anything?!”

He shrugged, “We wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit.”

“But we’re your best mates!” Ron said.

The teen arched a brow, “Yeah and you’ve constantly made fun of Luna and called her Looney even after I told you to stop. And Hermione insists on antagonizing her and telling her she’s delusional for believing in things like nargles. So what makes you think I would have been comfortable telling you about our relationship when you act like that?”

Ron spluttered, unable to come up with a response to an admittedly good point.

“Well we thought you were into Cho Chang!” Hermione rushed in to defend.

Harry gave her a disbelieving look. “Being into Chang would be messed up for _so many reasons_ .” He just honestly couldn’t even get past that thought. “What in the world even made you think I wanted to date _her?_ ”

She shrugged aggressively. “I don’t know maybe because you’re always looking at her all longingly and sighing and talking to her.” 

Harry honestly thought he’d lose his mind at these accusations. “First of all, I’m not even going to explain that first part to you because just _no._ Second of all, I talk to her because she’s still depressed about Cedric being killed and will come to me for comfort sometimes. That’s literally all that is. He was her best friend and I knew him enough and was with him in his last moments.”

Luna, Ginny, Neville, and the twins just looked on with mild interest as their argument continued. Looking back and forth between the three sort of like you would at a tennis match.

Ginny turned to Luna. “You’re both happy right?”

“Extremely.” She happily replied.

The redhead let out a long sigh. “Well, that’s all that matters I guess. I will be honest with you though it’s gonna take me a while to get used to, but that’s okay.”

Luna smiled brightly at the girl and hugged her, “Thank you.” She whispered. Ginny fondly rolled her eyes as she hugged her back.

“Of course.”

The sweet moment between them was quickly broken by the progressing argument of the other three. It seemed to have escalated quite a bit within the few seconds Luna and Ginny had turned to talk.

“-Y CAN’T YOU JUST BE HAPPY FOR ME?”

“WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST TELL US FROM THE BEGINNING THAT YOU WERE TOGETHER?” Ron yelled back.

“BECAUSE I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO! WHY DO I NEED TO SHARE EVERY SINGLE TID BIT OF MY LIFE WITH YOU! WHY CAN’T I TAKE MY TIME WITH SOMETHING BEFORE I HAVE TO LET YOU TWO KNOW ABOUT IT?”

“WE’RE YOUR FRIENDS!” Hermione shouted. “WE’RE SUPPOSED TO ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU! HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO THAT IF YOU KEEP THINGS FROM US?!”

Harry threw his hands up in frustration, “OH SO NOW YOU WANT TO BE THERE FOR ME?”

The red head rolled his eyes. “WILL YOU GIVE IT A REST ALREADY WE APOLOGIZED! IT’S WHAT DUMBLEDORE TOLD US WE HAD TO DO!”

He went quiet at Ron’s words, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. “You left me all alone at the _Dursleys’._ ” he said, voice raw from yelling, in disbelief that Ron would say such a thing. “You _left me_ to just sit and marinate in everything that had happened. In literally being _tortured_ and witnessing Cedric, in witnessing someone I almost _loved_ die.” Harry tried his best to fight back tears as he spoke. “I actually wanted to tell you two about that, about how Cedric and I almost got together before he got killed, but for an entire summer you just fucking shut me out. Because _you_ decided that Dumbledore’s words were more important than your friend. Because suddenly, out of the four fucking years that I’ve known you you chose _that_ moment to listen to an authority figure. So no, I _won’t_ give it a rest, because you betrayed my trust and left me alone with my abusers like it was no big deal. When the time came for you to seriously _act_ like my ‘best mates’ twice now, the both of you have failed to meet what I’ve probably set as the lowest bar possible.” He sighed as he rubbed a hand down his face, exhaustion starting to settle into him at his own rant. “I just, I can’t do this right now.” Without another word the teen quietly walked out.

The room was deathly silent, everyone but Luna looking at the door in shock. Her face on the other hand was just etched with worry.

Ron and Hermione were both deathly pale, the weight of their words and actions finally coming down on them with full force.

“We fucked up.” Ron said aloud. “We fucked up really bad.”

Hermione gulped, “It appears so.”

“Ya know,” Neville said softly to the others around him. “I’m not too sure if I should have been here for this conversation.”

Fred simply shrugged. “Eh you’re fine, this argument was bound to happen at some point.”

George nodded, “It needed to happen. Ron and Hermione have been a couple of ponces lately.”

Without bothering to speak to anyone Luna made her way to the door, wanting to be quick and find Harry. She paused for a moment, staring blankly at the door with her hand resting on the knob. “If your really expect to gain trust from an injured animal, you should stop pushing it into bear traps.”


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long awaited apology and makeup!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie this is kinda short, sorry if it's anti-climatic and stuff. I just like my characters being soft and having clear communication with eachother too much

It was a good two weeks until the silence between the trio was finally broken. Harry hadn’t been  _ avoiding  _ them per say, but he definitely knew he wasn’t ready to talk to them yet and the other two kept their space from him. Quietly he had to admit that he appreciated the gesture.

Of course during the two weeks he did also feel guilty about his outburst, even talking to Luna about it. Yes, he did have a right to be angry, but he did still feel bad about yelling at them like that in the beginning. Even if he knew it was a natural reaction to things, he just didn’t like that coming from himself. It reminded him of Vernon almost.

He knew he was nothing like the man and even his anger didn’t manifest like his uncle’s. It was a fear all the same though, a concern that left him meticulously combing over all the times he slipped up and let his anger get the best of him. Replaying scenarios over and over again and doubting his own emotions and whether they were justified.

It was a vicious cycle. He hoped he’d be able to break it one day, and just be able to feel emotions like anger without being scared that it meant he was becoming something he hated most, but he knew it would take time. 

So now all he could do was internally stress until Ron and Hermione finally cornered him in the common room. Clearly Ron had clued in on how he tended to go down there in the dead of night and told Hermione. Harry had to give them credit though, they at least chose something with no spectators unlike their last argument.

Now all three of them just sat there awkwardly, Harry in a chair all by himself while Ron and Hermione shared a seat. They all avoided eye contact, managing to fidget or pick at something until Harry had finally had enough of it.

“Okay this is getting ridiculous.” He took a deep breath before speaking again, steeling his nerves. “Look, I’m sorry for blowing up at you two. If I’m being quite honest I don’t like how angry I got. Yes I was right to be upset because you were pressuring me about something when honestly I have the right to have my own secrets too, but I shouldn’t have yelled.”

Somehow this only made Hermione make a distressed face which only confused the other. “No Harry we’re sorry.” She said. “We were completely unfair to you and you were right. We’re not entitled to know every little thing about your life and you deserve to be able to take your time with something before telling us about it. I made assumptions that I shouldn’t have and I tried pushing them on to you which was completely wrong.”

“And I was wrong for telling you to get over what happened over the summer.” Ron tagged in, finally speaking up. “It was completely out of line and honestly you were right. That was a crucial moment where we should have been there for you but we acted like cowards because of what Dumbledore said. I don’t think enough apologies could ever make up for the way that we left you hanging like that, but please know that we are sorry.” 

It honestly shocked Harry when  _ Ron _ started to tear up. “I really do see you like a brother Harry, you’re family. I made a mistake and I abandoned my family.” He paused and took a shuddering breath. He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up at Harry directly in the eye, watery blue ones making contact with forest green. “But I’m gonna make it up to you.”

Hermione grabbed his hand in support. “We both are.” She said resolutely. “We can’t promise that it’ll be perfect, or that we won’t make mistakes, but we want to try and do right by you. We want to really be there for you.” The Black girl hesitated a bit. “If you’ll let us that is.”

The teen sat there quietly, absorbing everything they’d said. He felt himself tear up a bit as he mulled over their words. He thought about how much he’d missed them over the past two weeks, over how at the end of the day, they were still his best friends. So, without any words he simply got up and pulled them into a hug. “Of course I’ll let you.” He said, his voice watery but hey, they were all a little teary eyed. “You’re trying and that’s all I’ve ever wanted from someone.”

Harry felt arms tighten around him in the group hug, he had no idea who’s arms they were but it was a welcome feeling all the same. Like being home. And that’s what Ron and Hermione were at the end of the day. Luna was his life, she was his other half.

Ron and Hermione would always be his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So!! I have a writing blog now! And I love writing but often times find that I don't know What to write about so send me requests! It doesn't even have to be lunarry. Like literally anything Harry Potter relayed shoot a request my way and I'll write it! I even do reader fics!  
> Here's my blog!:[Writing-Hyena](https://writing-hyena.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also as usual tell me what you thought!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hoped you enjoyed the fic! Please leave a kudos and maybe even a comment to tell me what you thought. Liked it, hated it, despised it! Tell me all about it! I love hearing what people think about my work and what thwy gather from it!


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